Not really excited to be honest. Too much BS that we all complain about & it never gets changed. Although, I am looking forward more to the Historic Grand Prix cars making a comeback this year. Cars all sound great, they all sound different & they are loud!

I heard from the Circuit today concerning the Friday seating if you have the Bronze Trio. Friday seats will be relocated to Grandstand 33. If you have received your tickets already, they will need to be returned & new tickets for the 3 days issued.

My wife surprised me with 1 weekend ticket, my first F1 race since Mansell was racing. I was 7 at the time I think. I will be in 33 all weekend which seems like a decent place to be, though I don’t have my seat assignment yet.

Does anyone know the full weekend schedule? Am I stuck in grandstand 33 all day or just for the F1 race?

That’s pretty cool! I’ll be in 33 on Friday afternoon & on Sunday. 31 on Saturday. Don’t get in till mid afternoon on Friday, but figured I’d head out to the track so I can spend some time getting camera settings down for Sunday. Since I had the Bronze Trio tickets & they moved us from 22 on Friday to 33, I have to send all my tickets back for them to reissue. But they did say my seats on Saturday & Sunday would not be changed. Don’t have a clue what they will give me for Friday though. They did give me their UPS number so I don’t have to pay for the return & reissue.

I’ve only been to Montreal once before, a couple of years ago, but on that occasion they checked tickets on the entrance to each grandstand. So unless you arrange to swap tickets with someone else, you have to stick to your ticketed grandstand. You can enter and exit the grandstand whenever you want though, to explore.

Btw, in grandstand 33 you’re close to a water fountain, so you don’t have to buy bottles of water if you don’t want to. And you can buy beer at your seat.

This will be my first Montreal trip, so I don’t know what the official policy is on Grandstands is, but I’m pretty confident it is as F1antics states. That is CoTA’s policy also, but a lot depends on who is watching the entrances in the particular grandstand. This past year at the USGP, we went to pretty much all the grandstands on Friday & Saturday, but occasionally met that gatekeeper who followed the rule of no access without a ticket for that grandstand. Most were pleasant though & it was great to see action from various parts of the track. On Sunday though, you could only get into the grandstand you had a ticket for. Here’s my page from this years USGP: http://www.mmtravelpics.com/Our_World_%26_Welcome_to_It%21/2013_F1_U.S.G.P./2013_F1_U.S.G.P..html

I’m hoping Monaco doesn’t overrun ; we’ll be catching our plane to the USA (en route to Montreal) that Sunday, and have to leave home 2 hours after the race start. Might have to catch the end of it on the airport run :)

I am thinking of coming up for the day with my son for either the Friday or Saturday session. Can anyone give advice on where to park and take the ferry/train/bus to get into the circuit and also what the best tickets might be for non race day?

You have it fairly good coming from the south. There is plenty of parking at the Longueuil metro station (if you find Longueuil metro on Google maps you will see that it is surrounded by parking). You can then take the metro one stop to be at the track. Most people will be going in the other direction so you don’t have to worry too much about crowds.
As for tickets. For most grandstands you cannot buy single day tickets. You have to buy 3 day passes so your options are somewhat limited. You can buy single day General admission tickets or single day tickets in the new popular grandstand which used to be grandstand 22 (as bad as that stands location is, I would get it over GA). Your other option is to keep an eye on e-bay for people selling single day tickets to grandstands or take your chances buying tickets off the many scalpers who will be at the metro exits. I have no idea what they charge and it would be a bit risky turning up to the race without knowing if any tickets are available.

As an update for those that have the Bronze Trio tickets….I heard from the Circuit today & the Friday tickets will be relocated to Grandstand 33. So we will have 33 on Friday & Sunday & 31 on Saturday. If you already received your tickets, they will need to be returned & new tickets for the 3 days issued. They will be contacting all those affected in the next few days.

–What are the seats in the grandstands like? From the pictures I’ve Googled it looks like metal benches without anything to lean back against, but correct me if I’m wrong. Do people bring their own stadium cushions? It looks like folding seats are a no-no from looking at the official circuit website.
–Where can I find information on when everything is happening? I know when the F1-related events are taking place, but I’ve yet to see anything specific on the official circuit website regarding other events like the Historic Grand Prix.
–This is somewhat related to my second question, but what opportunities are there to get driver autographs? My wife and I won’t arrive until midday Friday, and I wasn’t sure whether there would be a chance Friday or Saturday. I’m guessing the sessions are popular; how far in advance of one is it advisable to arrive to avoid getting shut out?